Thinking of upgrading from my 6-year-old Series 4. It’s shown signs of its age and I’d rather move on before it fails altogether. The 6 tuners and 4K compatibility are big selling points, but the thing ain’t cheap. And there are so many new ways to watch TV these days that I wonder if getting a new TiVo is a little like living in the past.
Thoughts?
If you cut the cable cord, pretty much everything via streaming is on-demand, and you never need to record anything again. No scheduling, no mistakes, no running out of recording space.
If you record a lot of live sports and the like, there may not be any good options. Me, I’ve always though TiVo was one of the great scams of the digital age, selling you the right to use your own equipment. 
Maybe you’re right, AB, but there’s a lot I like about TiVo. The interface is great. I tell it what shows I like and, boom, there they are. I don’t have to go looking for anything. I can skip commercials, which most network on-demand platforms don’t allow.
I was at my niece’s house over Thanksgiving and they were streaming a football game to the TV. Let’s just say the picture quality was less than impressive. I don’t want to compromise that. Plus, cutting the cable cord means paying for Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, etc., etc. (or doing some maybe-not-quite legal stuff - no thanks). Maybe I’m just an old fogey, but I like all my stuff in one place.
You can almost entirely avoid commercials by paying a slight premium ($4/month on Hulu). Most subscription channels (Netflix, Amazon) are ad-free.
Sounds like a limitation of the source (which may not have been legit?) Nearly all streaming is HD where it’s not full SD. The low-res, low-rate stuff tends to be from websites not intended for large-screen viewing. (We watch the CW shows using my phone and an HDMI cable; there’s a little bit of compression loss but otherwise it’s all HD.)
A streaming box like a Roku or Fire TV (Amazon) puts it all in one place, and $30-40 for the basic subscription stuff gives you more than $60-150 does for cable, in many cases.
(I’m doing a traveling presentation on cutting the cord, specifically aimed at non-tech/DIY/cable-model couch potatoes - I can shut up now. 
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No need to shut up. This is the kind of info I asked for. I’m just hesitant to make the leap. Old dogs and all that.
As with most working electronics, the decision to upgrade is highly subjective. The interface is a lot snappier on the Bolt than the Series 4. The Bolt can stream from more providers than the 4. I think the 4 only has Netflix, while the Bolt can stream most of the mainstream channels. However, it’s probably not worth getting a Bolt just as a streaming solution. There are better devices for streaming. But if you have cable, the streaming capability is nice to get Netflix or Amazon. Bolt can also record off antenna, so that’s an option for getting rid of cable.
As for the 4k of the Bolt, make sure your cable company provides that to your Tivo. They might not have that at all or they may require their own cable box for 4k.
While almost everything is available from streaming, it’s not always as simple as watching Tivo recordings from cable. The “Now Playing” list on Tivo makes it really easy to watch TV, but obviously you’re paying a premium for that luxury.
This right here is my biggest reason to stick with cable+TiVo, despite the added cost.
This is a big consideration for me as well. Here on the Left Coast, World Series games start at 5pm, and I work until 5. Thanks to TiVo, I didn’t miss a single pitch of my Cubbies! Started each game about 45 minutes late, and usually caught up to live by about the 4th inning.
I just bought my first TiVo. A 500GB Bolt for $99 (refurb Whiteout sale). Dumping my 2-tuner DVR.
So far, it is great. Love the iPad app, lost my cableco remote recording some time ago - great to have it back. NetFlix & Amazon Prime steaming work very well.